Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s family boycott finals in racism fear

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Theo Walcott's family have also decided not to go after a Foreign Office warningPA

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Joleon Lescott said his family attend despite the expectation of racismGetty

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Roy Hodgson took his first training session yesterdayTimes photographer,Bradley Ormesher

Oliver KayChief Football Correspondent

Last updated at 12:00AM, May 25 2012

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has become the second England footballer whose family
have abandoned plans to travel to the European Championship finals because
of fears of racial abuse.

After Oxlade-Chamberlain, the 18-year-old Arsenal winger, was named as the
youngest player in Roy Hodgson’s squad for the finals, his family looked
into the possibility of travelling to Ukraine to support him during the
tournament.

But they, like Theo Walcott’s family, have decided against it after after
Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) advice about the threat of being
racially abused.

Joleon Lescott, the England defender, said: “With my family, it’s not the same
as